National Cultures and Politeness Strategies in Intercultural Communication Among Japanese and American Characters in “The Last Samurai” Movie: A Cross-Cultural Pragmatic Analysis

Authors

  • Eka Nurilaila Universitas PGRI Madiun
  • Sigit Ricahyono Universitas PGRI Madiun
  • Dwi Setyadi Universitas PGRI Madiun
  • Samsul Arifin Universitas PGRI Madiun

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25273/she.v1i1.5853

Keywords:

National culture, politeness strategies, intercultural communication, japanese, american, cross-cultural pragmatics

Abstract

The study which is descriptive qualitative in nature, aims to investigate preference of politeness strategies by American and Japanese characters in  “The Last Samurai movie and explain it in terms the national culture.  Results show that the order of preference by Americans is: 1) BoP (11/50%), 2) PoP (7/31.8%), 3) NeP (3/13.6%), and 4) OfR (1/4.5%).  That by the Japanese is: 1) OfR (18/60%), 2) BoR (6/20%), 3). NeP (6/20%), 4) PoP (0). American national culture and that of Japan which are different affect their preference of politeness strategies shown in “The Last Samurai†movie. In conclusion, language and culture affect each other. People coming from different language and culture communicate differently.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Aijmer, Karin. (2006). Pragmatic Markes in Contrast. Netherlands: Elsevier.

Andersen, Gisle. (2001). Pragmatic Markers and Sociolinguistic Variation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Ary, Donald et al. (2010). Introduction to Research in Education. USA: Wadsworth.

Brown, Penelope & Levinson, Stephen C. (1987). Politeness Some Universal in language Usage. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.

Chen, R., He, L., & Hu, C. (2013). Chinese requests: In comparison to American and Japanese requests and with reference to the “East-West divide.†Journal of Pragmatics, 55, 140–161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2013.05.012

Creswell, John W. (2009). Qualitative Inquary & Research Design. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publication.

Dey, Ian. (1993). Qualitative data analysis: A user-friendly guide for social scientists. London: Routledge.

Eckert, Penelope & McConnell-Ginet, Sally. (2003). Language and Gender. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Fukushima, S. (1996). Request strategies in British English and Japanese. Language Sciences, 18(3–4), 671–688. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0388-0001(96)00041-1

Goldenberg, J. L., Ginexi, E. M., Sigelman, C. K., & Poppen, P. J. (1999). Just Say No: Japanese and American Styles of Refusing Unwanted Sexual Advances1. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 29(5), 889–902. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.1999.tb00130.x

Gray, Paul S. (2007). The Research Imagination. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Griffiths, Patrick. (2006). An Introduction to English Semantics and Pragmatics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Hancock, Beverley. (2009). An Introduction to Qualitative Research. Nottingham: Copyright of the NIHR RDS EM/YH

Holmes, Janet & Meyerhoff, Miriam. (2003). The Handbook of Language and Gender. UK: Blackwell Publishing.

Holmes, Janet. (2001). Introduction to Sociolinguistics. Edinburgh Gate: Pearson Education Limited.

Horn, Laurence R. & Ward, Gregory. (2006). The Handbook of Pragmatics. UK: Blackwell Publishing.

Hughes, Marnie. (2007). History Goes to the Movie. USA: Routledge.

Hymes, Dell. (1996). Ethnography, Linguistics, Narrative Inequality. USA: Taylor and Francis

Karsberg, Henrik. (2012). Politeness strategies – a theoretical framework. Engeleska: Uppsats Grundniva

Kavanagh, B. (2016). Emoticons as a medium for channeling politeness within American and Japanese online blogging communities. Language & Communication, 48, 53–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2016.03.003

Kechkes, Istvan & Horn, Laurence R. (2007). Explorations in Pragmatics. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter

King, J., & Aono, A. (2017). Talk, silence and anxiety during one-to-one tutorials: A cross-cultural comparative study of Japan and UK undergraduates’ tolerance of silence. Asia Pacific Education Review, 18(4), 489–499. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-017-9503-8

Kiyama, S., Tamaoka, K., & Takiura, M. (2012). Applicability of Brown and Levinson’s Politeness Theory to a Non-Western Culture. SAGE Open, 2(4), 215824401247011. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244012470116

Lee, H. E., Park, H. S., Imai, T., & Dolan, D. (2012). Cultural Differences Between Japan and the United States in Uses of “Apology†and “Thank You†in Favor Asking Messages. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 31(3), 263–289. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X12446595

Liao, C., & Bresnahan, M. I. (1996). A contrastive pragmatic study on American english and mandarin refusal strategies. Language Sciences, 18(3–4), 703–727. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0388-0001(96)00043-5

Mey, Jacob L. (2001). Pragmatics: An Introduction. UK: Blackwell Publishing.

Meyerhoff, Miriam. (2006). Introducing Sociolinguistics. New York: Routledge.

Miles, M & Huberman, A. (2014). Qualitative Data Analysis. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publication.

Moon, C., Uskul, A. K., & Weick, M. (2019). Cultural differences in politeness as a function of status relations: Comparing South Korean and British communicators. Journal of Theoretical Social Psychology, 3(3), 137–145. https://doi.org/10.1002/jts5.40

National Culture - Hofstede Insights. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14, 2020, from https://www.hofstede-insights.com/models/national-culture/

Oetzel, J., Ting-Toomey, S., Chew-Sanchez, M. I., Harris, R., Wilcox, R., & Stumpf, S. (2003). Face and Facework in Conflicts With Parents and Siblings: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Germans, Japanese, Mexicans, and U.S. Americans. Journal of Family Communication, 3(2), 67–93. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327698jfc0302_01

Ritchie, Jane & Lewis, Jane. (2003). Qualitative Research Practice: A Guide for Social Science Students and Researchers. Great Britain: The Cromwell Press Ltd.

Shearman, S. M., Dumlao, R., & Kagawa, N. (2011). Cultural variations in accounts by American and Japanese young adults: Recalling a major conflict with parents. Journal of Family Communication, 11(2), 105–125. https://doi.org/10.1080/15267431.2011.554499

Wardhaugh, Ronald. (2006). An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. UK: Blackwell Publishing.

Watts, Richard J. (2003). Politeness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Yin, Robert K. (2011). Qualitative Research From Start to Finish. New York: Guilford Press.

YouTube, (2015). The Last Samurai ~ Full Movie. Retrieved 30 October 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUqNV9d42n8

Yule, George. (1996). Pragmatics. New York: Oxford University Press.

Yule, George. (2006). The Study of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Yule, George. (2010). The Study of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Zhu, Y., & Bresnahan, M. J. (2018). Collective Face, Politeness Strategies, and Discomfort: Communication of American Domestic Students and Chinese International Students. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 47(2), 141–159. https://doi.org/10.1080/17475759.2018.1438304.

Downloads

Published

2020-01-19

Issue

Section

Articles